Dealing with Hind Gut Ulcers

Over the last couple months I’ve noticed an increase in symptoms that made me suspect my little red-headed firebrand may have hind gut ulcers. She was increasingly sensitive and pissy about girthing or pressure in general around her girth area. Palpitation around her flanks and the rear part of her belly elicited threats to kick. Her reactions were worse if I was at her right flank vs her left. She also started this chewing/teeth grinding thing when being girthed.

This led me to start looking into Equishure. Which promptly led me to start crying for my poor bank account. As a poor college student, if I can get by with doing it a slightly cheaper way and still do right by my horse…I will.

So, this led me to trying to make my own homemade batch of the pricey stuff. Now, while I haven’t done any scientific testing on it, my homemade batch seems to work (when my mare deems it fit to eat). It did take a couple of days to notice a reduction in her symptoms.

Add the glycerin flakes and coconut oil to a large pot and heat on high, mixing until everything has melted. Once everything has melted, take the pot off the heating element and mix in the baking soda. Pour mixture into a container and continue mixing until it gets thicker/more solid.

Once it has fully cooled, break the solid piece up into granules. At this type I’m feeding approx. 63g/day, but my mare is on one small meal of grain a day and free choice hay. I may adjust the amount once she is turned out on pasture if I feel I need to.

The first batch I made I added everything in a 1:1:1 ratio (and used corn oil not coconut oil). This led the mixture to be extremely paste like and somewhat annoying to feed. My mare also isn’t too crazy about extra oil, even if she’s used to eating it and will occasionally decide not to touch her grain if it has oil added (though will eat “plain” grain once offered).

Tonight I decided to try making a batch with a 4:4:1 ratio and will have a solid chunk once cooled that will break into easily fed granules. Progress!

As an aside, I would suggest using a pot and container you really don’t care about or setting aside one just for this purpose. Otherwise, you may need to reheat the pot and add hot soapy water to clean.